Citizens of the Kingdom while citizens of a kingdom

Books over Topics
I prefer to preach through books of the Bible rather than individual topics for several reasons, one of which is the way God steers us to appropriate passages each Sunday. We arrived at Romans 13, the most politically themed passage in Romans, the Sunday before the 2012 election. Once again, God shows himself sovereign even in my stubborn preference for preaching through books!

Romans 13:1-7
This is a problem passage. Some say it’s been universally misunderstood by modern Christians. Some say Paul didn’t write it at all. Some say translators purposefully mistranslated it to benefit the ruling class. Some have used it to justify tyranny. Verse one sums up the passage’s main point:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

A handful of objections emerge right away. Which authorities? Surely Paul does not mean that God institutes all human authorities, including evil ones. Perhaps he means spiritual authorities, as in Ephesians 6:12. Or perhaps he means only the good human authorities.

Let’s examine these two objections in turn.

Objection One: Paul can’t mean human authorities, because so many human authorities are bad.
This objection dissolves quickly. I believe Paul is talking about human authorities for at least four reasons.

While Paul does use the word ‘authorities’ in reference to spiritual forces, he (along with the rest of Scripture) uses it in reference human rulers too.
Spiritual authorities are not authorized to punish bad behavior or reward good.
Christians are not supposed to subject themselves to spiritual authorities.
The context of these verses clearly points to human government (judicial punishment, taxes, etc.)

Objection Two: Paul can’t mean all human authorities, because so many are bad.
This objection has more meat on it. It opens up a major vein in Scripture that will occupy our thought for the rest of this post and at least one more. Before digging in, let’s put the objection in its starkest terms by inserting the most notoriously evil governmental authority in recent memory: Hitler.

Let every person be subject to Hitler. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists Hitler resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

My Take
In case you have no time or patience for the hard work it will take to understand this passage, here’s what I think: I believe it means exactly what it says. Christians are to be subject to their human governing authorities because God put them there. Yes, even Hitler (up to a point). There are clear exceptions to this rule; but here Paul is not concerned with the exceptions, only the rule. Generally, Christians are to submit to human authorities because they are appointed by God, even the really bad ones. Four reasons for this conclusion:

It’s what Paul says. We can’t reshape Scripture into something we’re more comfortable with. We must let it reshape us.
The historical context of Romans. Paul is writing to a people prone to rebellion in a time ripe for rebellion.
The Scriptural context of this passage. Paul just finished saying that God is sovereign over everything and works everything together for our good, even bad things (such as evil governing authorities)
The Bible as a whole.

You might like: Rejoice, Be Patient and Pray

Rules and Exceptions
We’ll spend the bulk of our time working through the Bible as a whole. But first, we need to think about rules and exceptions. When my children disobey, I tell them the rule: “You must obey your father.” I don’t go into all the exceptions. I don’t say, “You must obey your father, unless he tells you to do something that contradicts something your mother has already told you to do” or “unless he has suffered head trauma and is ordering you to do something odd or dangerous.” Typically, caring instruction majors on the rules and minors on the exceptions.

We don’t know for sure; but it’s reasonable to suspect that Paul leaves out a list of exceptions because the Roman church was prone to breaking the rule. Around 49 A.D., the Jews were kicked out of Rome for their rebellious tendencies. They were allowed back in around 54 A.D. Paul wrote Romans around 55 A.D. And the historians tell us that in the next few years Rome was experienced widespread complaints regarding tax corruption. Into this situation Paul shouts, “Christians (including believing Jews), be subject to your governing authorities!”

With this in mind, let’s get moving into the Bible to find clues to help us sort out how God could tell us to be subject to human authroties — even bad ones. If you have time, it will help you to go read these passages for yourself. Click on the headings to read them online.

Exodus 1:15-21 God’s authority trumps human authority.
Here we see an exception to the rule. If a ruler orders you to kill babies, you may refuse. The midwives are rewarded for doing so because they feared the Lord over Pharaoh.